REMONETIZAIiOim 


(v-e  uuf 


OUju  ..ge  of  silver. 


SPEECH 


HON.  JOHN  M.  BRIGHT, 

OF  TENNESSEE, 

0 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 


JANUARY  26,  1878. 


WASHINGTON. 

1878. 


H 


# 


STEEC n 

OF 

HON.  JOHN  M.  BRIGHT. 


Tli^  House  being  as  in  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union  for 
general  debate — 

Mr.  BRIGHT  said : 

Mr.  Speaker:  I  propose  to  offer  some  remarks  ripon  the  subject 
of  the  remonetization  and  free  coinage  of  the  silver  dollar  and  the 
legal  tender  thereof .  Ido  not  propose  to  indulge  in  the  platitudes 
and  the  clap-trap  of  financial  theorists,  because  the  question  is  too 
intensely  practical  to  justify  any  one  in  attempting  to  allay  or  mis¬ 
lead  the  minds  of  the  country  with  such  philosophical  disquisitions. 

The  question  is  so  vitally  practical  that  it  pushes  its  fibers  into 
every  man’s  pocket  and  sends  its  roots  into  all  the  channels  of  in¬ 
dustry. 

I  feel  deeply  interested  in  this  measure.  I  believe  I  can  say  with¬ 
out  vanity  that  I  was  the  first  person  to  call  the  attention  of  this 
body  and  of  the  country,  in  January,  1875,  to  the  remonetization  of 
the  silver  dollar.  I  followed  it  up  in  the  Forty-fourth  Congress  and 
pressed  it  with  zeal  upon  the  attention  of  the  democratic  party  and 
of  this  House.  I  am  here  to-day  to  follow  it  up  with  equal  zeal,  and 
to  press  it  still  further  upon  the  consideration  of  this  body  and  of 
the  country. 

Mr.  Speaker,  it  is  very  proper  to  know  what  is  the  gist  of  the  ques¬ 
tion  before  the  country.  The  question  is  not  whether  we  shall  have 
a  bimetallic  currency ;  that  question  lias  been  settled  by  the  Consti¬ 
tution  of  our  country.  It  is  no  longer  an  open  question,  being  im¬ 
bedded  in  the  Constitution,  the  organic  law  of  the  country.  Why, 
sir,  it  is  idle  for  us  to  consume  the  time  of  this  body  and  that  of  the 
country  in  such  a  discussion.  Beyond  question  the  right  was  reserved 
to  the  States  to  make  gold  and  silver  a  legal  tender.  In  considerat  ion 
of  that  reserved  power  to  the  States,  the  power  was  conferred  by  the 
States  on  the  General  Government  to  coin  money  and  to  regulate  the 
value  of  foreign  coins,  clearly  showing  that  the  General  Government 
had  assumed  the  obligation  of  domestic  coinage,  and  also  guaranteed 
the  iuliow  of  foreign  coins.  By  these  provisions  the  people  supposed 
that  they  would  be  secure  in  all  their  money  facilities. 

In  addition  to  that,  Mr.  Speaker,  the  important  question  arises  out 
of  these  constitutional  provisions,  that  the  people  as  well  as  the 
States  should  have  the  power  to  make  gold  or  silver  a  legal  tender  in 
the  solution  of  the  debts  of  the  States  and  in  solution  of  the  debts  of 
private  individuals.  What  was  to  be  the  extent  of  this  tender  ?  It 
was  to  be  commensurate  with  the  wants  either  of  the  States  or  of  the 
individuals;  and  if  such  right  existed  I  should  like  to  know  why  it 
is  that  the  question  is  agitated  now  and  the  right  arrogated  under 


4 


the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  to  demonetize  silver  at  the  ex¬ 
pense  of  the  Constitution  and  the  rights  of  the  people  ? 

Sir,  it  is  not  an  open  question  ;  it  is  a  question  settled ;  and  when¬ 
ever  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  attempts  to  disturb  that  well- 
settled  principle  it  overleaps  the  barriers  of  the  Constitution  and 
runs  riot  over  the  rights  of  the  people  and  the  States.  I  am  sup¬ 
ported  in  this.  Here  is  the  argument  of  Mr.  Thomas  H.  Benton, 
who  was  considered  the  father  of  the  hard-money  doctrine  and  called 
“  Old  Bullion.”  If  gentlemen  are  interested  enough  in  the  question 
here  is  his  argument,  and  I  shall  only  read  a  paragraph  from  it.  I 
read  from  volume  1,  page  444  of  his  Thirty  Years’  View  : 

Mr.  Benton  believed  that  it  was  the  intention  and  declared  meaning  of  the  Con¬ 
stitution  that  foreign  coins  should  pass  currently  as  money,  and  at  their  full 
value,  within  the  United  States ;  that  it  was  the  duty  of  Congress  to  promote  the 
circulation  of  these  coins  by  giving  them  their  full  value  ;  that  this  was  the  design 
of  the  States  n  conferring  upon  Congress  the  exclusive  power  of  regulating  the 
value  of  these  coins  ;  that  all  the  laws  of  Congress  for  preventing  the  circulation 
of  foreign  coins,  and  underrating  their  value,  were  so  many  breaches  of  the  Con¬ 
stitution,  and  so  many  mischiefs  inflicted  upon  the  States;  and  that  it  was  the 
bounden  duty  of  Congress  to  repeal  all  such  laws,  and  to  restore  foreign  coins  to 
the  same  free  and  favored  circulation  which  they  possessed  when  the  Federal 
Constitution  was  adopted. 

If  the  fact  be  so,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  come  to  the  iraportaut  question 
and  announce  that  the  demonetization  of  the  silver  dollar  was  a 
breach  of  the  Constitution,  that  it  was  destructive  of  the  rights  of  the 
States,  that  it  was  an  invasion  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  that  it  was 
striking  down  one  of  the  elements  of  legal  tender  for  the  solution  of 
contracts  in  the  United  States.  I,  sir,  stand  here  and  propose  to 
meet  the  question  precisely  as  it  is.  I  say,  sir,  that  the  demonetiza¬ 
tion  of  the  silver  dollar  was  a  fraud  upon  the  people  of  the  United 
States  by  depriving  them  of  one  of  their  constitutional  coins;  that  it 
was  a  fraud  on  the  General  and  State  Governments  by  lopping  off  one 
of  their  financial  arms  ;  that  it  was  a  fraud  on  the  legislation  of  the 
country  by  an  undue  advantage  in  cutting  off  legislative  considera¬ 
tion  ;  that  it  was  a  fraud  on  the  President  of  the  United  States,  from 
whom  the  fraud  was  concealed  by  the  artful  phraseology  of  the  law, 
as  shown  by  his  Cowdry  letter;  that  it  was  a  fraud  on  the  mining 
resources  of  the  country  by  depreciating  the  value  of  our  vast  silver 
mines ;  that  it  was  a  fraud  on  posterity  by  an  attempt  to  double  the 
value  of  the  public  debt  which  goes  to  them  by  inheritance. 

I  happened  to  be  a  member  of  Congress  at  the  time  of  the  passage 
of  that  bill.  Its  passage  is  not  susceptible  of  vindication,  notwith¬ 
standing  the  puerile  apologies  in  its  behalf.  It  was  passed  by  fraud  in 
the  House,  never  having  been  printed  in  advance,  being  a  substitute  for 
the  printed  bill ;  never  having  been  read  at  the  Clerk’s  desk,  the  read¬ 
ing  having  been  dispensed  with  by  an  impression  that  the  bill  made 
no  material  alteration  in  the  coinage  laws ;  it  was  passed  without 
discussion,  debate  being  cut  off  by  operation  of  the  previous  question. 
It  was  passed  to  my  certain  information  under  such  circumstances 
that  the  fraud  escaped  the  attention  of  some  of  the  most  watchful 
as  well  as  the  ablest  statesmen  in  Congress  at  the  time.  It  was 
passed  near  the  closing  days  of  the  session,  when  in  the  bustle  and 
precipitate  rush  of  business  it  was  most  favorable  for  the  conceal¬ 
ment  of  fraud.  It  was  passed  without  previous  discussion  or  agita¬ 
tion  before  the  people  and  without  having  been  voted  upon  by  the  peo¬ 
ple.  Ay,  sir,  it  was  a  fraud  that  “  smells  to  heaven.”  It  was  a  fraud 
that  will  stink  in  the  nose  of  posterity  and  for  which  some  persons 
mn«»t  give  account  in  ttiA  day  of  retribution,  and  God  grant  “that  no 
guilty  man  may  escape !” 


I  state  furthermore,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  the  attempt  to  hold  the 
fraudulent  advantage  which  lias  been  secured  by  that  legislation  is 
indefensible,  in  my  opinion,  upon  any  principle  of  either  law  or 
morality. 

But,  sir,  we  will  notice  now  an  apology  or  two  for  the  passage  of 
this  act.  We  are  told,  sir,  that  under  the  law  of  1834  gold  was  over¬ 
valued  and  forced  silver  out  of  the  country.  Then,  sir,  if  gold  had 
been  overvalued  it  ought  to  have  been  reduced  in  value  by  appro¬ 
priate  legislation  which  would  bring  it  to  the  equation  of  silver  so 
that  both  metals  should  harmonize  as  a  currency  in  the  country  with¬ 
out  resorting  to  the  unphilosophic,  unconstitutional  mode  of  banish¬ 
ing  the  unoffending  metal  from  the  country.  The  error  of  the  former 
legislation  ought  to  have  been  corrected.  To  show  the  evils  of  that 
legislation  I  call  the  attention  of  the  House  to  an  extract  from  Mr. 
Seyd’s  valuable  work  on  Metallic  Currency  in  America : 

The  American  silver  coinage  was  always  liable  to  exportation ,  for  the  simple  reason 
that  it  contained  an  UNDUE  I’UOPORTION  of  SILVER.  In  all  countries  where  the 
double  valuation  prevails,  the  relative  proportion  of  value  between  gold  and  sil¬ 
ver  stands  at  1  to  15$,  and  the  market  value  of  silver  in  countries  where  it  is  not 
a  standard  give  on  the  average  the  same  result.  In  the  United  States  alone  the 
rate  taken  was  1  part  of  gold  to  16  of  silver,  (15  988.37,)  the  proportion  resulting 
from  the  Eagle  at  258  and  the  silver  dollar  at  412$  grains.  The  dollar,  therefore, 
contained  3$  (3.29)  per  cent,  more  silver  than  it  ought  to  have  contained  according 
to  its  nominal  value.  No  wonder,  then,  that  the  dollar  was  rapidly  exported  and 
that  no  one  found  inducement  to  bring  silver  to  the  mints  for  coinage.  And  let  it 
be  understood  that  the  supply  of  gold  had  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  this.  Long 
before  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California,  ever  since  1837,  has  the  effect  of  this 
premium  on  the  United  States  silver  dollar  made  itself  manifest.  In  exchange  for 
it  the  foreigner  need  not  have  supplied  gold ;  other  commodities  served  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  realizing  elsewhere  the  large  profit  which  the  United  States  gave  to  the 
exporter  of  her  silver  coin.  Much  that  has  been  doubtful,  peculiar,  and  unsatis¬ 
factory  in  the  history  of  the  United  States  currency  between  1837  and  1850  owes 
its  origin  to  this  astounding  mistake  on  the  part  of  the  Government,  which  must, 
as  every  one  can  see,  have  given  rise  to  general  disorganization  of  the  curreney 
and  to  disappointment  in  the  capacity  of  the  country  to  retain  metallic  currency. 
I  go  farther  and  say  that  it  was  the  cause  why  America  was  obliged  to  make  so 
large  a  use  of  paper  money,  with  all  its  evils  of  unequal' interests,  extravagant 
habits  and  expenditure. — Seyd  on  Metallic  Currency ,  pages  52,  53. 

In  addition  to  that,  Mr.  Speaker,  they  tell  ns  that  the  old  dollar 
was  dead.  Dead!  Why,  Mr.  Speaker,  if  dead  it  needed  no  enact¬ 
ment.  But  if  it  was  not  for  the  time  needed,  the  dormant  right  to 
it  remained  in  the  Constitution,  as  many  dormant  powers  remain  there 
to  be  called  up  and  exercised  as  occasion  may  demand ;  therefore 
the  argument  is  without  reason,  and  I  shall  proceed  to  notice  another. 
If  it  was  dead  then  I  suppose  they  enacted  that  it  should  be  buried, 
and  the  funeral  ceremonies  were  performed  here  under  the  act  of 
1873,  which  was  the  winding-sheet  of  the  old  silver  dollar — the  old 
dollar  of  the  fathers,  with  all  its  historic  memories.  Sir,  they  bore 
it  away  as  in  the  case  of  a  burial  of  old  under  circumstances  which 
are  familiar  to  every  one  : 

Not  a  drum  was  heard,  not  a  funeral  note. 

As  his  corse  to  the  rampart  wo  hunied. 

★  *  *  *  * 

AVe  carved  not  a  line,  and  we  raised  not  a  stone 

But  left  him  alone  with  his  glory. 

But,  Mr.  Speaker,  it  ought  to  have  been  sufficient  for  those  who  were 
apologizing  for  the  demonetization  of  the  old  silver  dollar  to  have  told 
the  truth  about  the  old  veteran  that  had  stood  and  battled  with  all 
the  financial  storms  of  the  Government  from  1792  down  to  1873. 
Investigation  shows  it  was  not  dead,  but  that  it  was  alive.  From 
the  report  of  the  Director  of  the  Mint  in  1870,  pages  33  and  34,  it  ap- 


(3 


pe&rs — and  I  have  the  table  here — that  for  t 
its  demonetization  there  was  more  of  the  ol 
the  American  Mint  than  in  any  five  years  be 
the  evidence : 

The  following  statement  shows  the  silver  dollars 
from  1792  till  1873 ;  and  that  in  1872  and  1873  more  sil> 
United  States  Mint  than  in  any  five  years  from  the  cc 
ment.  It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  these  reasons  assigi 
the  silver  dollar  are  pure  fabrications. 


Year. 

Number. 

1793  ) 

1848  . 

1794  V  . 

204,  791 

1849  . 

1795  ) 

1850 

1796  . 

72,  920 

7,  796 
327,  526 

1851 . 

1797  . 

1852  . 

1798  . 

1853  .. 

1799  . 

432[  515 

1854  . 

1800  . 

220,  920 
54,  454 

1855  .. 

1801 . 

1856  . 

1802  . 

4 1 , 650 

1857  . 

1803  . 

66,  064 

1858  . 

1804  . . 

19,  570 

1859  . 

1805  . 

321 

1860  . 

1806  to  1835 . 

None. 

1861 . 

1836  . 

1,  000 

J  862 . 

1837  > 

None. 

1863  . 

1838  3  . 

1864  . 

1839  . 

300 

1865  . 

1840  . 

61,  005 

1866  ..  .*.. 

1841 . 

173,  000 

1867  . 

1842  . 

184,  618 

1868  . 

1843  . 

185, 100 
20,  000 

1869  . 

1844  . 

1870  . 

1845  . 

24,  500 
169,  600 

1871 . 

1846  . 

1872  . 

1847  . 

140,  750 

1873,  three 

The  true  reason,  Mr.  Speaker,  was  to  be 
Germany  was  attempting  the  demonetizat 
thought  she  was  becoming  affluent  in  gold  b 
German  indemnity  and  commenced  the  proje 
that  the  apprehended  engorgement  of  Arneri 
suit  in  the  depreciation  of  the  American  bo 
movement  commences  abroad  and  reaches 
have  the  foreign  bondholder  uniting  with  t 
and  beseeching  the  Congress  of  the  United 
manner ;  and  the  project  for  the  solution  of 
demonetization  of  the  silver  dollar,  because 
in  that  coin.  That  would  make  gold  highei 
-cheaper ;  it  would  make  our  bonds,  if  they  s 
tization  of  the  silver  dollar,  1.20  to  1  of  tin 
The  American  statesman  sees  the  bondholder  i 
mon  ”  amid  his  boxes  of  gold  and  bonds ;  he  1 
national  honor  and  his  heart  melts  and  the  l 
old  silver  dollar  is  buried  out  of  sight  for  tl 
the  hard-handed  people,  upon  whose  broad 
of  this  country  rest  for  their  prosperity,  get 
nickel  and  the  subsidiary  silver  coins  7  pe: 
leled  American  smartness ! 


i 


Now,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  propose  to  offer  some  reasons  wliy  the  silver 
dollar  should  be  recoined.  In  the  first  i>lace,  the  obligations  of  the 
Constitution  require  that  it  should  be  remonetized. 

Second.  It  is  needed  for  general  circulation  to  pay  the  debts,  the 
taxes,  and  the  judgments  which  may  be  rendered  against  pri¬ 
vate  individuals.  California,  we  are  told,  can  consume  and  utilize 
$100,000,000  herself. 

Third.  It  is  needed  by  the  States  for  revenues  to  pay  their  bonds 
and  other  debts.  The  General  Government  has  taxed  State  banks 
out  of  existence,  expelled  foreign  coins,  and  deprived  the  States  of 
facilities  which  they  had  from  the  foundation  of  the  Government  in 
the  discharge  of  their  obligations.  Hence  it  is  right  that  we  see  that 
this  currency  is  restored  to  them. 

Fourth.  It  is  needed  by  the  banks  for  reserves,  for  deposits,  and 
for  a  ballast  against  inflation,  and  for  specie  resumption  if  they  ever 
reach  that  point. 

Fifth.  It  is  needed  for  foreign  trade  with  Mexico,  South  America, 
Canada,  China,  and  all  the  other  specie-using  nations  of  the  globe, 
forming  two-thirds  of  the  population  of  the  globe. 

Sixth.  It  is  needed  to  utilize  our  vast  silver  mines,  to  employ  our 
mining  labor,  and  to  turn  the  silver  streams  into  the  channels  of 
trade.  It  is  needed  for  the  encouragement  of  our  languishing  indus¬ 
tries  and  the  employment  of  our  starving  laborers. 

Seventh.  It  is  needed  for  national  revenues,  and  to  pay  the  national 
debt  according  to  contract. 

The  act  of  1869  provides  “for  the  payment  in  coin  or  its  equiva¬ 
lent”  of  the  notes,  “  and  of  all  the  interest-bearing  obligations  of  the 
United  States,  except  in  cases  where  the  law  authorizing  the  issue  of 
any  such  obligations  has  expressly  provided  that  the  same  may  be  paid 
in  lawful  money  or  other  currency  than  gold  and  silver .” 

Here  the  law  defines  that  the  word  “coin”  as  used  means  11  gold 
and  silver.” 

The  act  of  1870  provides  that  the  bonds  issued  under  it  shall  be 
payablein  coin,  at  its(then)  standard  value.  Both  gold  and  silver  had 
their  legal  standard  value  at  the  time,  and  the  coin  mentioned  could 
have  referred  only  to  the  legal  standard  coins  of  the  United  States, 
gold  and  silver. 

Then  if  it  be  lawful  to  pay  in  silver,  there  is  no  reason  why  it  should 
not  be  done,  though  it  were  as  plenty  “  as  the  stones  in  the  street.” 
And  it  would  be  unjust  to  a  distressed  people  to  throw  away  the  poor 
advantage  of  paying  the  public  debt  in  silver  as  well  as  gold.  Mr. 
Seyd,  in  his  excellent  treatise  on  Metallic  Currency  in  the  United 
States,  page  55,  says  : 

I  am  convinced  that  if  America  again  introduced  the  free  coinage  of  silver  she 
would  be  enabled  to  retain  many  millions  per  annum,  would  be  able  to  resume 
specie  payments,  and  pay  off  her  national  debt  much  sooner. 

It  is  needed,  in  the  eighth  place,  for  the  resumption  of  specie  pay¬ 
ments,  as  Geueral  Grant  said,  to  aid  in  paving  the  way  to  it,  and  he 
was  right  for  ouce.  He  was  in  favor  of  hoarding  three  or  four  hun¬ 
dred  millions  of  dollars  by  the  people,  and  the  people  must  always 
have  coin  to  sustain  the  solid  specie  payments  of  the  country  as  I 
will  demonstrate  in  another  connection. 

Ninth.  I  propose  to  show  that  resumption,  in  its  proper  sense,  is 
impossible  in  gold  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Speaker,  what  are  the  requisites  of  specie  resumption  for  a 
nation?  I  apprehend  there  is  much  disagreement  upon  this  point: 
I  apprehend  that  there  is  much  misunderstanding  upon  this  subject. 


8 


Now,  sir,  what  is  the  rule?  but  before  I  enter  upon  the  rule,  I  will 
make  a  statement  with  reference  to  the  amount  of  outstanding  cur¬ 
rency  and  obligations  that  have  to  be  met  in  order  to  put  the  coun¬ 
try  on  what  might  be  called  a  solid  specie  basis. 

The  attention  of  the  House  is  respectfully  invited  to  a  few  figures: 

National-bank  notes  in  circulation  November  1,  1877, 


as  per  report  Comptroller  Currency .  $315, 881, 990 

United  States  notes,  same  date .  354,  490,  892 

Deposits  in  national  banks,  same  date .  691,900,000 

Deposits  in  State  and  saving-banks .  1, 377, 520, 000 


Total .  2,719,792,882 


These  large  figures  confront  us  in  our  road  to  resumption. 

Now,  Mr.  Speaker,  the  point  to  which  I  wish  to  call  the  attention 
of  this  body  particularly  is  this,  that  the  rule  of  resumption,  as 
has  been  supposed  by  many  and  as  has  been  adopted  by  the  United 
States,  should  be  considered  as  3  to  1 ;  but,  according  to  Amasa  Walker, 
the  rule  in  fact  has  been  an  average  of  about  4  to  1  and  even  greater 
in  the  United  States.  But  this  rule  of  3  to  1  has  been  supposed  only 
to  apply  to  the  circulation  of  the  banks  of  the  United  States.  It  is 
borrowed  or  pretended  to  be  borrowed  from  the  English  rule  upon 
the  subject.  I  propose  to  call  the  attention  of  the  House  to  the  En¬ 
glish  rule  so  that  America  as  she  has  been  indulging  her  imitative 
faculty  will  be  disposed  to  give  due  consideration  to  the  English 
rule  which  has  been  made  imperative  by  statute  as  to  specie  pay¬ 
ments.  I  call  the  attention  of  the  House  to  the  work  of  Mr.  Benton, 
volume  2,  pages  128,  129,  who  explains  and  quotes  the  English  rule. 

Here  is  the  rule : 

[From  Benton’s  Thirty  Tears’  View,  volume  2,  pages  128  and  129. J 

This  is  a  point  of  great  moment — one  on  which  the  public  mind  has  not  been 
sufficiently  awakened  in  this  country,  though  well  understood  and  duly  valued  in 
England.  The  charters  of  banks  in  the  United  States  are  usually  drawn  on  this 
principle,  that  a  certain  proportion  of  the  capital,  and  sometimes  the  whole  of  it, 
shall  be  paid  up  in  gold  or  silver  before  the  charter  shall  take  effect.  This  is  the 
usual  provision,  without  any  obligation  on  the  bank  to  retain  any  part  of  this 
specie  after  it  gets  into  operation ;  and  this  provision  has  too  often  proved  to 
be  illusory  and  deceptive.  In  many  cases  the  banks  have  borrowed  the  requi¬ 
site  amount  for  a  day  and  then  returned  it ;  in  many  other  cases  the  proportion  of 
specie,  though  paid  up  in  good  faith,  is  immediately  lent  out  or  parted  with.  The 
result  to  the  public  is  about  the  same  in  both  cases ;  the  bank  has  little  or  no  specie 
and  its  place  is  supplied  by  the  notes  of  other  banks.  The  great  vice  of  the  bank¬ 
ing  system  of  the  United  States  is  in  banking  upon  paper,  upon  the  paper  of  each 
other,  and  treating  this  paper  as  cash.  This  may  be  safe  among  the  banks  them¬ 
selves  ;  it  may  enable  them  to  settle  with  one  another  and  to  liquidate  reciprocal 
balances  ;  but  to  the  public  it  is  nothing.  In  the  event  of  a  run  upon  a  bank  or  a 
general  run  upon  all  banks  it  is  specie  and  not  paper  that  is  wanted.  It  is  specie 

and  not  paper  which  the  public  want  and  must  have. 

*  ★  *  ~  ★  *  * 

The  true  proportion  is  one-third,  and  this  to  apply  to  all  the  circulation  and  de¬ 
posits,  except  those  which  are  special.  This  proportion  has  been  fixed  for  a  hun¬ 
dred  years  at  the  Bank  of  England  ;  and  just  so  often  as  that  bank  has  fallen  be¬ 
low  this  proportion,  mischief  has  occurred.  This  is  the  sworn  opinion  of  the  pres¬ 
ent  governor  of  the  Bank  of  England  and  of  the  directors  of  that  institution. 
Before  Lord  Althorpe’s  committee  in  1832,  Mr.  Horsley  Palmer,  the  governor  of 
the  bank,  testified  in  these  words : 

“  The  average  proportion,  as  already  observed,  of  coin  and  bullion,  which  the 
bank  thinks  it  prudent  to  keep  on  hand,  is  at  the  rate  of  a  third  of  the  total  amount 
of  all  her  liabilities,  including  deposits  as  well  as  issues.” 

Mr.  George  Ward  Norman,  a  director  of  the  bank,  states  the  same  thing  in  a 
different  form  of  words.  He  says : 

“  For  a  full  state  of  the  circulation  and  the  deposits,  say  twenty-one  millions  of 
notes  and  six  millions  of  deposits,  making  in  the  whole  twenty-seven  millions  of 
liabilities,  the  proper  sum  in  coin  and  bullion  for  the  bank  to  retain  is  nine  millions. 


<) 


Thus,  the  average  proportion  of  one-third  between  (he  specie  oil  hand  and  the  cir¬ 
culation  and  deposits  must  be  considered  as  an  established  principle  at  that  bank, 
which  is  quite  tne  largest  and  among  the  oldest — probably  the  very  oldest  bank  of 
circulation  in  the  world.” 

The  Bank  of  England  is  not  merely  required  to  keep  on  hand  in  bullion,  the 
one-third  of  its  immediate  liabilities ;  it  is  bound  also  to  let  the  country  see  that  it 
has  or  has  not  that  proportion  on  hand.  By  an  act  of  the  third  year  of  William 
IV,  it  is  required  to  make  quarterly  publications  of  the  average  of  the  weekly 
liabilities  of  the  bank,  that  the  public  may  see  whenever  it  descends  below  the 
point  of  safety.  Here  is  the  last  of  these  publications,  which  is  a  full  exemplifi¬ 
cation  of  the  rule  and  the  policy  which  now  govern  that  bank : 

t 

‘  Quarterly  average  of  the  weekly  liabilities  and  assets  of  the  Bank  of  England  from 

the  \2th  December,  1837,  to  the  6th  of  March,  1838,  both  inclusive,  published  pursuant 

to  the  act  3  William  IV,  cap.  98.” 

Liabilities : 

Circulation .  £18,  fiOO,  000 

Deposits .  11,  535,  000 

30,  135,  000 

Assets : 

Securities .  ‘22,702.900 

Bullion .  10,015,000 

32,  807,  900 

“  London,  March  12.” 

The  proportion  in  England  is  one-third.  The  bank  relies  upon  its  debts  and 
other  resources  for  the  other  two-thirds  in  the  event  of  a  run  upon  it. 

So  you  find,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  the  rule  adopted  by  the  B  auk  of 
England,  or  rather  under  the  act  of  Parliament,  was  that  one-third  of 
the  liability  in  coin  and  bullion  should  always  be  in  the  bank,  and 
that  when  a  run  was  made  on  the  bank  by  the  time  it  had  exhausted 
that  one-tliird  it  could,  from  its  loans,  collect  the  two-thirds  re¬ 
mainder  in  coin  from  the  country,  so  that  it  might  be  prepared  to  pay 
off  all  its  liabilities  to  every  individual  who  had  a  claim  against  the 
bank.  That  is  the  rule,  and  I  propose  now  to  apply  that  rule  to  the 
currency  of  the  United  States  and  the  currency  and  deposits  of  the 
banks,  to  see  whether  we  can  compass  the  much-coveted  object  of 
specie  resumption,  as  it  is  called. 

Now,  sir,  what  are  the  facts  as  to  the  amount  necessary  to  start 
the  resumption  machinery  ?  Let  us  see.  Here  are  the  outstanding 
United  States  Treasury  notes  in  full,  amounting  to  $354,490,892 ;  one- 
third  of  the  circulation  of  the  national  banks,  $101,960,003;  one- 
third  of  the  deposits  of  the  national  banks,  $230,033,000  ;  one-tliird  of 
the  State  and  savings-banks  deposits,  $455,500,606 ;  to  pay  the  annual 
interest  and  sinking  fund,  $130,000,000 ;  making  $1,272,045,554,  that, 
is,  to  pay  the  outstanding  Treasury  notes  of  the  United  States  in  full 
and  to  pay  one-third  of  the  liabilities  of  banks,  national  and  State. 
But  it  does  not  stop  there,  Mr.  Speaker;  but  suppose  by  the  English 
rule  that  the  people  hold  two-thirds  of  the  bank  circulation  and  de¬ 
posits  in  gold  which  may  be  collected  from  loans  while  paying  out 
one-third  while  a  run  is  made  on  these  institutions.  Then  the  people 
in  the  United  States,  to  support  the  Government  and  banks,  ought  to 
have  in  circulation  two-thirds  of  the  bank  circulation,  deposits,  and 
annual  interest  on  the  bonds  and  sinking  fund  in  gold,  which  would 
make  in  the  hands  of  the  people  $1,050,877,992.  Add  to  that  $1,272,- 
645,554,  which  is  supposed  to  be  held  by  the  banks,  and  you  have  the 
grand  total  of  $2,929,523,540  required  to  put  the  United  States  upon 
the  specie  basis  of  the  English  government. 

France  has  $1,200,000,000  of  metal  in  her  banks  and  in  the  country, 
and  $520,000,000  of  currency  besides  her  deposits.  Yet  she  cannot 


10 


venture  to  become  specie-paying  without  detriment  to  herself.  In¬ 
stead  of  resumption  oil  the  1st  of  January,  1878,  as  contemplated,  she 
has  instead  recently  issued  $50,000,000  more  paper  currency.  Ger¬ 
many  has  $300,000,000  of  gold,  and  she  is  making  an  effort  to  get  to 
a  gold  specie  basis.  But  the  coveted  goal  is  far  before  her. 

Let  us  apply  the  facts  and  see  how  far  the  United  States  is  from 
this  specie  resumption,  as  it  is  called.  According  to  the  report  of  the 
Director  of  the  Mint,  we  have  in  coin  and  bullion  in  this  country 
$185,000,000  of  gold.  Understand  that  the  proposition  is  to  resume. 
Of  this  amount  of  gold  the  Government  holds  $32,595,000  and  the 
banks  hold  $5,000,000 ;  so  that  the  Government  and  the  banks  are  far 
behind. 

Now  let  us  take  this  $185,000,000  and  subtract  it  from  $2,929,000,- 
000,  and  we  still  have  $2,744,000,000  to  be  provided  in  gold  to  enable 
us  to  reach  the  English  specie  basis.  Whence  is  this  to  come  ?  The 
Director  of  the  Mint,  in  his  report  for  1874,  page  20,  uses  the  fol¬ 
lowing  language.  Will  gentlemen  now  give  me  their  attention  ?  I 
am  using  the  argument  and  testimony  of  an  adversary.  Let  us  see 
what  he  says  upon  the  subject  of  gold  supply  in  the  world  and  in  the 
United  States.  Here  is  his  language : 

[From  Report  of  the  Director  of  the  Mint,  June  30,  1874,  page  20.] 

The  opinion  has  often  been  advanced  that  the  large  amount  of  gold  yielded  by 
the  mines  of  the  United  States  and  Australia  has  produced  an  engorgement  in  the 
markets  of  the  world.  That  such  was  the  eliect  during  the  first  five  years  after 
these  mines  were  opened  and  during  which  time  the  maximum  production  was 
reached,  and  that  a  general  advance  in  prices  followed,  may  he  safely  admitted  ; 
but  the  undeniable  fact  that  leading  countries,  like  the  United  States,  Russia,  Aus¬ 
tria,  France,  and  Italy,  are  compelled  to  use  inconvertible  paper-money,  not  from 
choice,  but  because  they  have  not  sufficient  coin  for  a  specie  basis,  would  appear 
to  show  conclusively  that  there  is  not  too  much  gold ,  and  especially  as  no  one  country 
appears  to  possess  a  redundancy.  This  fact,  and  particularly  when  it  is  considered 
that  the  annual  production  of  gold  is  gradually  decreasing ,  should  dispel  any  fears 
which  may  be  entertained  of  its  future  decline  in  value  relatively  to  land,  labor, 
and  commodities. 

That  is  the  testimony  of  a  witness  who  is  a  gold  bullionist,  a  man 
who  is  in  favor  of  the  demonetization  of  the  silver  dollar.  We  find, 
therefore,  that  there  is  no  engorgement  of  gold,  no  redundancy  of  gold 
in  Europe  or  America,  and  gold  is  on  the  decrease.  The  United  States, 
Russia.  Austria,  France,  and  Italy  are  compelled  to  use  inconvertible 
money  for  the  want  of  gold. 

Then,  what  is  the  conclusion  of  the  argument  ? 

Where  will  you  go  in  quest  of  your  gold  ?  Will  you  go  to  Europe? 
The  countries  there  are  in  a  scramble  for  it ;  it  is  not  there.  Will 
you  go  to  your  own  mines?  From  them  the  flow  of  gold,  like  the 
fabled  stream  of  Pactolus,  flows  only  to  bear  the  golden  treasure  to 
other  shores,  leaving  but  a  little  sediment  in  your  own  country  as  it 
flows  through. 

An  effort  was  made  to  introduce  the  gold  standard  into  India  ;  but 
Mr.  Bagehot,  an  Euglish  writer  and  a  gold  bullionist,  argued  that  it 
was  impolitic  and  impossible. 

Our  Government  has  found  it  impossible  to  introduce  foreign  gold 
into  our  country  through  the  powerful  medium  of  our  national  bonds 
with  their  large  rate  of  interest.  If  anything  can  attract  the  gold 
from  Europe  it  is  the  American  bond.  It  is  not  to  be  introduced 
through  the  skill  and  management  of  the  syndicate.  But  what  is  this 
syndicate  ?  It  is  part  English  and  part  American — might  be  styled  a 
compound  of  the  British  lion  and  the  American  eagle.  Its  prototype 
was  a  fabulous  monster  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  called  a  griffin,  which 
had  the  head  and  wings  of  an  eagle  and  the  body  of  a  lion,  and  was  sup- 


11 


posed  to  u  watch  over  mi  lies  of  gold.”  Its  image  was  sometimes  stamped 
on  ancient  coins.  At  present  it  is  not  active,  but  it  is  watching  the 
issue  of  the  silver  bill.  In  plain  English  it  is  an  association  formed 
for  the  purpose  of  practicing  a  feat  in  financial  hocus-pocus,  by  which 
lhe3r  extract  coin-interest-bearing  bonds  of  the  United  States,  under 
the  acts  of  1870  and  1875,  in  exchange  for  non-interest-bearing  Treas¬ 
ury  notes,  without  increasing  the  gold  coin  of  the  country  a  single 
dollar.  But  how  can  that  be  done  ?  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
gives  notice  that  on  a  certain  day  ho  will  sell  live  millions  of  bonds 
for  gold  for  the  purpose  of  redeeming  legal-tender  notes  under  the 
act  of  1875.  • 

We  will  say  that  there  are  fifty  banks  and  gold  brokers,  English 
and  American,  that  have  five  millions  of  gold  on  deposit  in  the  vaults 
of  the  banks.  They  have  also  hoarded  five  millions  of  Treasury  notes. 
On  the  day  appointed  they  appear  before  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas¬ 
ury  and  they  propose  to  buy  five  millions  of  bonds  if  he  will  take 
checks  for  that  amount  of  gold  on  deposit  in  the  vaults  of  the  banks 
The  Secretary  accepts  the  proposition,  knowing  that  the  gold  is  never 
moved  in  largo  transactions.  The  bonds  are  exchanged  for  the  gold 
checks;  hut  just  here  the  syndicate  presents  $5,000,000  of  legal-tend¬ 
ers  for  redemption,  and  the  Secretary  exchanges  the  gold  checks  for 
the  legal  tenders.  The  result  of  the  transaction  is  the  syndicate  has 
t  he  interest-bearing  bonds  and  the  gold  unmoved  in  the  vaults  of  the 
banks;  the  Secretary  has  the  legal-tenders,  which  are  carried  to  the 
destruction  account  and  burned  up  ;  the  people  have  lost  their  money 
from  circulation  and  have  gained  a  new  burden  in  the  interest  on 
the  bonds. 

The  syndicate  only  repeats  the  process  at  as  many  calls  as  the  Sec¬ 
retary  may  choose  to  make.  The  gold  remains  in  the  banks,  the  syn¬ 
dicate  holds  the  interest-bearing  bonds,  and  the  legal-tenders  are 
abs^bed,  and  so  the  process  is  continued  until  the  whole  legal-tenders 
of  the  United  States  are  “  wiped  out,”  and  $5,000,000  have  done  the 
whole  work. 

Well,  Mr.  Speaker,  will  the  House  permit  me  to  tell  a  little  anec¬ 
dote  in  illustration  of  this  matter,  which  is  said  to  have  occurred  to 
a  western  forester,  a  man  of  celebrity  in  his  day,  the  well-known 
Colonel  Davy  Crockett.  Silence  gives  consent,  and  I  will  tell  it.  He 
went  on  one  occasion,  with  a  number  of  his  jolly  friends,  to  a  grocery. 
He  had  a  single  coon-skin,  which  was  currency  in  that  day,  with 
which  he  wished  to  buy  a  quart  of  whisky.  He  laid  his  coon-skin  on 
the  counter  and  got  his  whisky.  He  asked  what  he  should  do  with 
it,  and  was  told  to  throw  it  into  the  loft,  which  he  did.  After  they 
drank  their  whisky,  the  colonel  went  around  and  twisted  the  coon- 
skin  out  of  the  loft  with  his  ramrod,  and,  bringing  it  back  to  the 
counter,  bought  another  quart  of  whisky.  The  coon-skin  was  again 
thrown  into  the  loft  and  again  the  colonel  twisted  it  out  and  again 
he  brought  it  back  and  bought  another  quart  of  whisky.  So  he  re¬ 
peated  the  process  and  they  drank  whisky  the  whole  day  upon  a 
single  coon-skin,  just  as  the  syndicate  are  consuming  the  legal-tenders 
of  the  United  States  with  the  sum  of  $5,000,000  of  gold  which  re¬ 
mains  in  the  vaults  of  the  hanks.  [Laughter.]  But,  Mr.  Speaker, 
I  have  not  time  to  dwell  longer  on  that  subject  to-day. 

Again, the  gold  cannot  he  introduced  through  our  commerce.  There 
is  a  reported  gold  balance  against  us  of  $15,000,000,  and  to  this  should 
be  added  the  carrying  trade  of  the  United  States,  which  paid  to  for¬ 
eign  vessels,  according  to  Mr.  Grosvenor,  $(50,000,000,  and,  according 
to  the  same  authority,  for  smuggling,  $50,000,000,  making  the  true 
balance  of  currency  against  the  United  States  $125,000,000. 


12 


Now,  Mr.  Speaker,  while  all  Europe  is  in  a  scramble  for  gold, 
I  inquire,  whence  is  it  to  come,  to  put  this  country  upon  a  specie 
basis?  All  the  orifices  are  open  for  outflow  from  the  United  States, 
through  interest  upon  our  bonds  held  abroad,  through  interest  upon 
State  bonds,  and  through  the  private  indebtedness  of  our  people. 

Ay,  sir,  Mr.  McCulloch,  in  1866,  thought  he  could  reach  it  in  1869. 
Tie  pursued  the  golden  phantom.  So  with  Mr.  Richardson,  so  with 
Mr.  Boutwell,  and  so  with  Mr.  Bristow.  All  pursued  the  phantom, 
and  failed  in  the  effort. 

Now,  to  change  the  figure,  the  present  Secretary  of  the  Treas¬ 
ury  takes  it  up,  and  is  going  to  force  the  camel  through  the  eye  of 
the  needle,  though  he  may  crush  every  bone  in  the  body-politic. 

No,  Mr.  Speaker,  we  will  need  all  our  mountains,  both  of  gold  and 
silver,  to  pay  the  interest  upon  our  bonded  debt,  to  pay  the  debt 
itself,  and  to  furnish  a  curreucy  for  the  people. 

Therefore  resumption  is  impossible  in  gold.  It  will  take  ages  to 
recover  us  from  the  Serbonian  bog  into  which  we  have  marched  and 
to  reach  the  solid  road  through  a  specie  basis  for  our  country.  The- 
little  we  collect  of  gold  as  it  percolates  from  our  foreign  commerce, 
the  little  sediment  left  from  the  outflow  of  our  mines,  will  never  fur¬ 
nish  ns  with  that  metal  while  the  continent  stands  unless  there  is 
some  other  resource. 

Mr.  Speaker,  our  country  is  in  distress  and  staggering  under  the 
burden  of  its  public  debt.  If  we  look  for  relief  by  payment  in  gold 
the  debt  will  cling  to  us  like  the  curse  to  the  wandering  Jew.  While 
Germany  and  the  Scandinavian  states  are  demonetizing  silver  and 
our  silver  mines  are  unmeasured  in  their  resources,  now  is  our  oppor¬ 
tunity.  Now  is  the  time  to  take  the  tide  at  the  flood  which  ‘‘leads 
«/  # 

on  to  fortune.”  If  the  occasion  is  lost,  I  here  leave  it  on  record  for 
the  eye  of  posterity  that  our  public  debt  will  not  be  paid  in  gold  in  the 
next  half  century.  • 

We  are  told,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  we  ought  not  to  remonetize  the  sil¬ 
ver  dollar,  because  it  is  too  fluctuating  in  value.  That  argument 
has  often  been  made  before  ;  but  is  it  truthful  ?  I  maintain  that  it 
is  not,  and  I  am  supported  in  my  judgment  by  the  facts  of  history. 
I  have  an  extract  from  Mr.  Benton’s  speech,  who  gave  the  history  of 
currency  in  1837  when  it  was  under  discussion.  They  arrayed  all  the 
facts  from  the  time  of  the  Roman  emperors  down  to  the  present  time, 
and  it  resolved  itself  into  the  practical  question,  as  he  states  in  the 
extract — which  I  will  not  read  but  will  furnish — that  the  silver  dol¬ 
lar  maintained  its  relation  to  gold  for  over  three  hundred  years  in. 
silver  countries,  in  Mexico,  Spain,  and  South  America. 

[From  Benton’s  Thirty  Tears’  View,  First  volume,  pages  4G9  and  470.] 

REVIVAL  OF  THE  GOLD  CURRENCY. 

A  measure  of  relief  was  now  at  hand  before  which  the  machinery  of  distress  was 
to  balk  and  cease  its  long  and  cruel  labors ;  it  was  the  passage  of  the  bill  for 
equalizing  the  value  of  gold  and  silver  and  legalizing  the  tender  of  foreign  coins 
of  both  metals. 

★  ★  *  ★  *  ★  ★ 

The  difficulty  of  adjusting  this  value  so  that  neither  metal  should  expel  the  other 
had  been  the  stumbling-block  for  a  great  many  years ;  and  now  this  difficulty 
seemed  to  be  a-  formidalile  as  ever.  Refined  calculations  were  gone  into,  scientific 
light  was  sought,  history  was  rummaged  back  to  the  times  of  the  Roman  empire, 
and  there  seemed  to  be  no  way  of  getting  to  a  concord  of  opinion  either  from  the 
lights  of  science,  the  voice  of  history,  or  the  result  of  calculations.  The  author  of 
this  View  had  (in  his  speeches  on  the  subject)  taken  up  the  question  in  a  practical 
point  of  view,  regardless'  of  history,  and  calculations,  and  the  opinions  of  bank 
officers,  and.  looking  to  the  actual  and  equal  circulation  of  the  two  metals  in  differ-. 


ent  countries,  he  saw  that  this  equality  and  actuality  of  circulation  had  existed  for 
above  three  hundred  years  in  the  Spanish  dominions  of  Mexico  and  South  America, 
where  the  proportion  was  16  to  1.  Taking  his  stand  upon  this  single  fact  as  the 
practical  test  which  solved  the  question,  all  the  real  friends  of  the  gold  currency 
soon  rallied  to  it. 

The  good  effects  of  the  bill  were  immediately  seen.  Gold  began  to  flow  into  the 
country  through  all  the  channels  of  commerce;  old  chests  gave  up  their  hoards  ; 
the  mint  was  busy,  and  in  a  few  months,  and  as  if  by  magic,  a  currency  banish ed 
from  the  country  for  thirty  years  overspread  the  land  and  gave  joy  and  confidence 
to  all  the  pursuits  of  industry. 

But  I  do  not  stop  there,  Mr.  Speaker.  We  have  the  testimony  fur¬ 
nished  by  the  Director  of  the  Mint  from  his  own  tables  and  in  a  state¬ 
ment  here  compiled  in  decades,  showing  that  the  general  average  for 
the  one  hundred  and  fourteen  years  from  1760  to  1873  is  15.18  ;  being 
15  and  nearly  one-fifth  instead  of  the  present  standard  which  we  have 
adopted,  the  ratio  of  1  to  16.  During  the  above  period  the  ratio  of 
the  highest  monthly  average  in  the  United  States  was  1  to  15,  in  July, 
1859,  at  which  rate  a  silver  dollar  of  412}  grains  was  worth  $1.05f  in 

£old‘  . 

During  this  period  there  were  but  three  years  in  which  the  ratio 
fell  below  1  to  16;  in  1809,  when  it  was  16.25;  in  1810,  16.15,  and  in 
1815,  at  the  close  of  the  British  war,  when  it  was  16.30.  The  ratio 
for  the  lowest  monthly  average  in  July,  1876,  after  it  was  demonetized, 
was  1  to  19.19,  at  which  rate  the  dollar  Avas  worth  83£  cents. 

Table  showing  comparative  value  of  gold  with  silver  by  decades  from  1760  to  and  in¬ 
clusive  of  the  year  1873,  being  one  hundred  and  fourteen  years ,  being  condensed  from 
tables  found  in  the  report  of  the  Direotor  of  the  Mint  for  1876,  pages  46-47. 


1760  to  1769  (both  inclusive)  gold  compared  to  silver  averaged  as .  1  to  14.  506 

1770  to  1779  (both  inclusive)  gold  compared  to  silver  averaged  as .  1  to  14.  491 

1780  to  1789  (both  inclusive)  gold  compared  to  silver  averaged  as .  1  to  14.  451 

1790  to  1799  (both  inclusive)  gold  compared  to  silver  averaged  as .  1  to  14.  945 

1800  to  1809  (both  inclusive)  gold  compared  to  silver  averaged  as .  1  to  14.  854 

1810  to  1819  (both  inclusive)  gold  compared  to  silver  averaged  as .  1  to  15.  405 

1820  to  1829  (both  inclusive)  gold  compared  to  silver  averaged  as .  1  to  15.  802 

1830  to  1839  (both  inclusive)  gold  compared  to  silver  averaged  as .  1  to  15.  764 

1840  to  1849  (both  inclusive)  gold  compared  to  silver  averaged  as .  1  to  15.  877 

1850  to  1859  (both  inclusive)  gold  compared  to  silver  averaged  as .  1  to  15.  400 

1860  to  1869  (both  inclusive)  gold  compared  to  silver  averaged  as .  1  to  15.  446 

1870  to  1873  (both  inclusive)  gold  compared  to  silver  averaged  as .  1  to  15.  672 


The  general  average  for  the  above  one  hundred  and  fourteen  years  is  15.1885. 

Thus,  Mr.  Speaker,  you  find  from  Mr.  Benton  and  the  testimony  of 
the  Director  of  the  Mint  that  we  have  shown  by  unquestioned  au¬ 
thority  that  silver  has  maintained  its  uniform  relation  to  gold  for 
four  hundred  years  ;  and  having  maintained  this  relation,  the  charge 
is  untrue  that  it  is  too  variable  in  its  value.  Then,  sir,  if  that  argu¬ 
ment  be  answered,  why  the  main  argument  is  taken  away  from  them. 
Besides  all  that,  Mr.  Speaker,  its  value  did  not  fall  until  it  was  de¬ 
monetized.  It  did  not  cease  to  be  coin  until  it  was  demonetized  and 
until  the  prohibition  was  made  by  the  Government  itself.  It  was  a 
direct  assassination  by  national  legislation,  instigated  by  the  con¬ 
spiracy  of  European  bondholders.  So,  then,  this  was  only  an  apparent 
depreciation  of  it,  superinduced  by  the  means  I  have  indicated. 

Another  objection  is  that  if  remonetized  it  should  be  made  of  equal 
value  to  gold.  Why,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  answer  that  the  parties  who 
aided  in  the  demonetization  are  estopped  from  interposing  an  argu¬ 
ment  of  that  description.  They  will  not  be  permitted  to  take  ad¬ 
vantage  of  their  own  wrong.  But  the  true  answer  is:  Whenever  it 
is  remonetized,  when  the  work  which  they  undid  is  restored,  it  will 
be  restored  to  the  equation  with  gold  itself.  Ay,  sir,  the  value  was 


14 


fixed  in  1792  at  37 1£  grains  of  fine  silver,  and  it  was  made  only  3-J- 
grains  light  in  the  alloy  in  1837.  It  has  not  only  held  its  own,  but 
was  worth  5  percent,  in  1860.  Even  the  i  per  cent,  of  line  silver  that 
was  added  to  it  in  1792  withstood  all  the  financial  vicissitudes  and 
storms  down  to  1873. 

It  was  too  fine  to  stay  in  the  country.  Our  average  was  about  16 
to  1.  In  other  countries  the  average  was  15^  to  1,  ours  being  3£  per 
cent,  more  according  to  Mr.  Seyd,  to  whose  statement  of  this  point  I 
call  the  attention  of  the  House  as  giving  the  true  reason  why  Amer¬ 
ican  silver  in  part  had  left  the  country. 

[Here  the  hammer  fell.] 

The  SPEAKER  pro  tempore.  The  gentleman’s  hour  has  expired. 

Mr.  EWING.  I  ask  unanimous  consent  that  the  time  of  the  gen¬ 
tleman  be  extended. 

Mr.  DEERING.  For  how  long  ? 

Mr.  BRIGHT.  I  would  rather  not  be  limited,  because  I  would 
thereby  be  forced  out  of  the  channel  in  which  I  am  following  out 
my  line  of  thought. 

Mr.  DEERING.  I  object. 

Mr.  EWING.  I  ask  unanimous  consent  that  the  time  of  the  gen¬ 
tleman  from  Tennessee  be  extended  for  half  an  hour.  . 

There  was  no  objection. 

Mr.  BRIGHT.  I  will  not  trouble  the  House  with  reading  the  opin¬ 
ion  of  Mr.  Seyd  in  relation  to  the  high  value  of  silver  and  the  occa¬ 
sion  for  its  leaving  the  country  in  part,  but  will  embody  it  in  my 
remarks: 

The  plea  that  do  silver  "bullion  was  brought  to  the  United  States,  and  that  an 
actual  stoppage  in  the  coining  of  silver  dollars  took  place,  advanced  as  a  reason  to 
prove  the  indisposition  of  the  Americans  to  use  silver  money,  is  quite  false,  for  who 
indeed,  I  repeat,  would  bring  silver  to  the  United  States  mints  when  lie  could 
obtain  3^  per  cent,  more  for  it  elsewhere  ? 

I  maintain  that  these  incongruities  in  the  American  silver  currency  have  done 
much  harm  to  the  country.  Besides  the  silver  produced  in  the  States,  or  which 
came  from  abroad  and  could  not  maintain  itself,  the  vast  treasures  of  Mexico  have 
passed  by  instead  of  flowing  in  part  into  the  United  States  for  the  development  of 
her  interior  commerce,  and  for  the  formation  of  a  solid  basis  to  her  international 
trade.  And  now  the  United  States  are  iu  this  remarkable  position ,  that  the  richest 
silver  deposits  are  opened  in  their  own  territories,  producing  vast  sums  of  solid 
precious  metal,  which  instead  of  serving  herself  as  money  all  go  abroad  to  swell 
the  currencies  of  other  nations,  while  the  great  Republic  herself  labors  painfully 
under  the  weight  of  a  depreciated  paper  currency. — Seyd  on  Metallic  Currency, 
pages  54,  55. 

But,  Mr.  Speaker,  our  contract  was  for  standard  value  of  1870. 
Hence  we  were  not  bound  to  keep  it  at  an  equation  with  gold  so  that 
we  kept  it  within  the  limits  of  the  contract. 

“  But,”  it  will  be  said,  “  it  does  not  matter  much,  for  if  we  send 
away  all  this  silver  we  get  something  else  in  return  for  it,  either  gold 
or  goods;  we  pay  with  it,  and  it  thus  turns  the  exchange  in  our 
favor.”  I  deny  the  truth  of  the  mathematical  meaning  of  this  say¬ 
ing.  Supposing  the  silver  was  not  produced,  would  not  the  United 
States  import  less,  or  rather  be  compelled  to  import  less  luxuries  ? 
And  so  if  by  the  operation  of  the  present  laws  silver  were  not  driven 
away  from  the  country  but  were  to  some  extent  permitted  or  encour¬ 
aged  to  remain  in  it,  this  result  would  follow :  the  benefit  of  its 
present  production  would  take  two  directions ;  one  portion  of  it  would 
go  abroad,  another  portion  would  remain  in  the  country  for  the  en¬ 
couragement  and  development  of  the  home  industry.  The  direct 
unfavorable  law  of  tenders,  amounting  practically  to  a  forbidding  of 
the  proper  use  of  silver,  creates  an  inequality  whose  influence  is  irre¬ 
sistibly  strong,  destructive  of  neutrality,  and  therefore  most  injuri¬ 
ous. 


15 


The  third  objection  is,  we  ought  not  to  fix  a  value  to  operate 
twenty  years  hence.  Why,  Mr.  Speaker,  our  obligation  runs  with 
the  contract.  As  we  maintain,  these  bonds  were  payable  in  silver 
and  some  of  them  were  running  forty  years  hence,  and  the  holders 
have  a  right  to  claim  the  standard  value  under  the  act  of  1870.  And 
they  may  run  for  centuries  yet  to  come.  Hence  to  restore  the  silver 
dollar  is  only  providing  one  of  the  means  for  the  deferred  payment 
of  the  bonds. 

The  fourth  objection  is,  that  we  ought  not  to  add  to  our  depreci¬ 
ated  currency.  This  was  depreciated  by  law.  It  was  not  the  depre¬ 
ciation  of  commercial  considerations  alone.  We  propose  to  appre¬ 
ciate  it  by  law  and  restore  it  to  its  original  position.  By  making  it 
a  full  legal  tender  it  will  spring  at  once  to  a  par  with  gold. 

The  fifth  objection  is,  that  England,  Germany,  and  the  Scandina¬ 
vian  states  have  adopted  gold  as  a  sole  legal  tender,  and  we  ought 
to  follow  their  example.  1  answer  they  have  no  right  to  impose  an 
obligation  upon  us  to  change  our  Constitution  or  to  change  our  con¬ 
tracts,  for  we  change  our  contracts  when  we  contract  our  currency 
and  destroy  our  silver.  And  whenever  we  adopt  the  example  which 
has  been  inaugurated  we  cripple  all  our  industries  that  they  may 
reap  the  profit.*  I  suppose  they  will  want  us  to  have  a  king  next,  in 
imitation  of  their  example. 

The  legal-tender  coins  of  the  United  States  are  fixed  bv  the  Con- 
stitution.  In  Europe  they  are  fixed  by  statutory  law  or  the  will  of 
the  sovereign. 

It  is  impossible,  sir,  to  abolish  silver.  Three- fourths  of  the  nations 
of  the  earth  use  it — two-thirds  of  the  population  of  the  globe.  If  it 
could  be  done  it  would  increase  the  value  of  gold  more  than  twofold 
and  the  taxes  and  debts  iu  proportion;  and  after  it  had  done  its  per¬ 
fect  work  of  contraction,  desolation,  and  destruction  of  industries, 
and  inaugurated  an  unparalleled  reign  of  poverty  and  distress,  it 
would  be  succeeded  by  a  deluge  of  paper  currency  throughout  the 
world  to  supply  the  deficiency  occasioned  by  the  destruction  of  one 
of  the  great  coins  of  the  earth.  So  says  Mr.  Bagehot,  the  English 
writer  on  the  subject,  and  who  shows  conclusively  that  there  is  not 
gold  enough  in  the  world  for  a  currency. 

Again,  we  need  the  money  at  home.  We  do  not  need  money  to 
circulate  in  foreign  countries.  We  deal  in  exchange  with  foreign 
countries.  Our  coins  when  they  go  abroad  go  to  the  mints  of  the 
European  nations.  When  we  regulate  the  operations  of  our  mint,  let 
it  be  done  to  the  advantage  and  interest  of  our  own  people.  It  is  not 
only  wise  but  profitable  to  take  care  of  ourselves.  Every  nation  ought 
to  have  and  maintain  a  home  currency  with  its  stability  secured  by 
constitutional  law. 

The  sixth  objection  is  that  it  should  be  only  made  a  partial  legal 
tender  limited  in  the  collection  of  debts.  I  answer  this  would  demon¬ 
etize  it  in  part,  would  make  it  a  subject  of  speculation,  and  would 
cripple  the  United  States  ahd  the  State  governments  and  the  people 
in  the  collection  of  taxes  and  in  the  payment  of  debts  and  in  all  the 
commercial  uses  of  money. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  will  now  call  the  attention  of  the  House  to  another 
matter  of  grave  consideration — the  subject  of  the  free  coinage  of 
the  silver  dollar.  The  operations  of  the  Mint  at  present  are  with 
oppressive  discriminations  against  the  people.  I  maintain,  first,  that 
there  ought  to  be  free  coinage  of  the  silver  dollar,  because  such  was 
the  policy  of  the  Government  from  17 1)2  to  1853,  a  period  of  about 
sixty  years.  From  1853  to  1873  there  was  a  charge  of  \  per  cent  ; 


16 


from  1873  to  1875  the  charge  for  gold  was  1  per  cent.  The  act  of 
1875  made  the  coinage  of  gold  free  of  charge.  In  the  second  place 
I  maintain,  not  only  the  policy  of  the  Government,  that  it  should  be 
free,  but  because  the  expense  ought  to  be  borne  by  the  country  and 
not  by  the  depositor.  The  Director  of  the  Mint,  in  his  report  for 
1873,  gives  the  reasons  why  gold  should  be  coined  free,  and  his  argu¬ 
ment  is  equally  applicable  to  the  free  coinage  of  silver. 

[From  report  of  the  Director  of  the  Mint,  June  30,  1873,  pages  13  and  14.] 

EARNINGS  AND  EXPENDITURES. 

*  *  *  With  respect  to  the  expenses  of  the  mints,  it  should  be  stated  that  it  never 
was  intended  that  they  should  be  self-sustaining,  and  that  prior  to  1853  no  charge 
for  the  coinage  of  either  gold  or  silver  was  imposed  ;  the  evident  intention  of  the 
framers  of  the  original  mint  law  having  been  to  invite  foreign  bullion  and  coin  to 
the  mint  for  coinage.  In  the  year  above  stated  a  law  was  enacted  authorizing  and 
requiring  a  coinage  charge  of  one-half  per  cent,  to  be  imposed,  which  continued  in 
force  down  to  the  1st  of  April,  1873,  when  the  new  coinage  act  took  effect,  reduc¬ 
ing  the  charge  to  one-fifth  of  1  per  cent. 

****** 

The  reasons  for  a  free  coinage  of  gold  are  simple  and  direct,  and  are  briefly 
stated  as  follows : 

First.  By  throwing  the  cost  of  coinage  on  the  depositor  the  cost  of  production  is 
correspondingly  increased. 

Second.  The  coining  value  of  gold  is  lowered,  which  tends  to  i;epel  it  from  the 
mint  and  encourage  its  export.  For  the  same  reason  it  repels  foreign  gold. 

Third.  It  is  unjust  to  the  depositor,  as  he  pays  the  entire  expense  of  coinage,  in 
which  the  whole  public  are  as  much  interested  as  himself.  Coinage  of  the  stand¬ 
ard  metal  is  indispensable  to  the  public,  and  the  expense  should  accordingly  be 
contributed  by  all. 

It  should  also  be  stated  that,  under  the  coinage  act,  the  melting  of  the  bullion 
to  bring  it  to  a  condition  for  determining  by  essay  the  proportion  of  gold  and  sil¬ 
ver  contained,  or  the  “  fineness,”  as  it  is  termed  in  mint  language,  is  made  a  sub¬ 
ject  of  charge  to  the  depositor,  and  will  bring  to  the  Treasury  a  sum  approximat¬ 
ing  somewhat  to  that  accruing  from  the  coinage  charge.  The  imposition  of  this 
new  charge  should  be  considered  an  additional  argument  for  abolishing  the  coin¬ 
age  charge.  It  is  not  subject  to  the  same  objection  for  the  reason  that  a  charge 
for  melting  is  made  in  London. 

Again,  the  coinage  of  silver  ought  to  be  free  because  the  coinage 
of  gold  is  free  and  silver  is  the  most  used  by  the  people.  The  dis¬ 
crimination  is  unjust  and  oppressive  upon  the  people.  It  is  a  tax  to 
pay  the  expenses  of  the  coinage  on  gold,  as  Mr.  Sherman  calls  it  “  the 
money  of  the  rich/7  and  is  throwing  a  burden  on  the  people.  I  say 
it  is  unjust,  and  to  show  the  prostitution  of  the  mint  in  this  particu¬ 
lar,  first,  we  purchased  under  the  act  of  1875  silver  bulllion  with  which 
to  coin  fractional  silver  to  supersede  the  fractional  paper  currency. 
We  purchased  it  with  gold-interest-bearing  bonds.  The  people  of  the 
United  States  are  paying  now  about  $2,000,000  annually  interest  on 
these  bonds  for  a  subsidiary  coinage. 

No  only  so,  but  according  to  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  the  seigniorage  which  was  collected  for  the  coinage  of  silver 
for  the  last  year,  and  covered  into  the  Treasury,  was  $3,273,239,  as 
also  appears  from  the  report  of  the  Director  of  the  Mint,  making 
$5,273,239,  which  was  thrown  as  a  burden  and  tax  upon  the  people  to 
pay  for  the  expense  of  coining  “ the  money  of  the  rich,”  as  stated  by 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Sir,  it  is  a  burning  shame  upon  the 
legislation  of  the  countryj!  Why  will  you  do  it?  England  does  it! 
What  does  Mr.  Seyd  say  on  the  subject?  I  will  call  attention  to  a 
few  paragraphs: 

The  expenditure  of  the  Mint  falls  on  the  taxation;  the  expense  for  coining  gold 
is  consequently  borne  by  all  classes,  although  gold  is  used  principally  by  the 
smaller  number,  the  wealthier  portions  of  the  community.  The  mere  assertion 
that  the  coining  of  gold  is  intended  for  the  benefit  of  all  classes  does  not,  in  face 
•of  the  patent  fact  that  the  poor  use  it  but  rarely,  meet  the  justice  of  the  case.  In 


17 


England  the  extreme  injustice  of  this  matter  becomes  all  the  more  glaring  when  it 
is  borne  in  mind  that  the  British  silver  coinage,  that  upon  which  more  than  three- 
quarters  of  the  nation  are  dependent  for  their  intercourse  with  each  other,  is 
charged  with  a  heavy  seigniorage  of  from  8  to  10  per  cent.,  a  profit  which  serves 
the  mint  as  a  set-off  against  the  free  coinage  of  gold.  Gold,  it  may  be  said,  is 
coined  in  England  gratuitously  for  the  higher  classes  at  the  cost  of  the  lower 
classes,  which  deal  in  silver.  Moreover,  while  the  coinage  of  gold  is  thus  of  full 
value,  open  and  free  to  all,  and  the  supply  unrestricted  within  the  natural  bound¬ 
aries  of  commerce,  the  silver  coinage  is  debased  ;  the  mint  refuses  to  coin  it  for 
the  public  ;  it  has  but  a  strictly  limited  legal-tender  value,  and  the  amount  in  circu¬ 
lation  thus  becomes  restricted  within  narrow  and  unnatural  boundaries — Seyd  on 
Metallic  Currency ,  page  18. 

Let  any  member  who  votes  to  tax  the  coinage  of  the  silver  go  and 
tell  his  constituents  that  he  did  it  to  pay  the  expenses  of  coining 
gold,  “  the  money  of  the  rich let  him  tell  them  that  he  did  it  to 
raise  revenues  from  the  people  by  the  clandestine  means  of  a  mint 
tax  on  their  money  ;  let  him  go  and  tell  them,  by  way  of  apology, 
that  England  does  it  and  thus  grinds  the  faces  of  the  poor  for  the 
benefit  of  the  rich.  That  is  the  reason  you  have  the  silver  taxed 
on  your  mints  for  the  advantage  of  the  rich  of  the  country,  while 
$5,000,000  are  ground  out  of  the  poor  aud  laboring  men  of  the  country 
per  annum  to  favor  the  gold-mongers  who  get  their  coinage  free  of 
expense.  Sir,  that  measure  had  a  double  object.  It  was  not  only  to 
favor  the  gold,  but  it  was  to  drive  silver  out  of  the  country,  and  a  tax 
upon  it  always  has  this  tendency.  But  what  should  be  the  policy  of 
our  country  ?  Why,  sir,  instead  of  driving  it  out  of  the  country  our 
policy  ought  to  be  that  which  was  intended  by  the  fathers  of  the 
country,  to  throw  our  ports  open  as  wide  as  the  gates  of  heaven  and 
admit  it  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe,  and  give  our  own  people 
the  advantage  of  coinage  and  placing  our  currency  upon  the  terra 
firma  of  a  specie  basis.  Sir,  the  Constitution  of  our  country  has  been 
violated  by  the  policy  that  has  been  forced  on  and  is  ruining  this 
country. 

Oh,  but  they  tell  us  there  is  to  be  an  Atlantic  flood  of  silver  in 
consequence  of  its  demonetization  in  Germany.  Sir,  in  the  language 
of  a  distinguished  orator  of  the  Revolution,  “  Let  it  come.  I  repeat 
it,  Let  it  come,”  and  we  will  roll  back  the  silver  billows  upon  them 
in  payment  of  our  national  debt. 

Why,  sir,  we  have  a  debt  redeemable  now  of  $660,000,000,  and  bv 
the  1st  day  of  January,  1881,  we  shall  have  a  debt  of  $1,452,000,000, 
according  to  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  And  if 
we  adopt  proper  measures  in  this  era,  they  will  galvanize  our  trade, 
our  industries  will  spring  from  the  dust,  and  again  the  march  of 
prosperity  will  begin.  Sir,  France  is  not  so  delicate  as  the  United 
States.  When  her  obligations  in  part  were  payable  in  silver  to  Ger¬ 
many  she  did  not  scruple  upon  the  point  of  honor  when  she  fell  short 
to  go  into  Germany  and  purchase  $20,000,000  of  silver  there  and  take 
it  to  her  own  mints  for  coinage  to  pay  her  own  obligation  with. 
France  did  not  scruple  to  do  that.  It  is  time  we  were  getting  down 
from  our  stilts  and  showing  some  dint  of  pity  for  the  bond-ridden, 
bank-ridden,  monopoly-ridden,  mortgage-ridden,  tax-ridden,  and  pov¬ 
erty-ridden  people. 

And  yet,  sir,  still  .we  are  told  about  bad  faith.  When  they  talk 
about  bad  faith  we  hurl  the  slander  back  into  the  teeth  of  the  slan¬ 
derers.  We  propose  to  pay  according  to  contract.  The  bondholder 
shall  have  his  pound  of  flesh,  but  we  do  not  intend  that  his  victim 
shall  be  bled  to  death  in  addition  to  that  pound  which  the  law  gives 
him. 

Why,  sir,  the  bondholders  have  no  right  to  complain.  In  the  first 

2  BR 


18 


place,  we  funded  their  debt  and  gave  a  double  value  to  it ;  in  this 
way  we  gave  a  double  rate  of  interest  upon  it  and  paid  the  interest 
in  gold,  making  it  now  equal  to  15  per  cent,  of  the  original  value  of 
the  funds.  In  addition  to  that,  under  the  act  of  1869,  at  a  time  when 
the  five-twenties  and  other  bonds  were  payable  in  legal-tenders,  they 
prevailed  upon  Congress  to  bullionize  the  debt  and  thus  we  gave  them 
$500,000,000  more  in  value.  They  prevailed  upon  us  to  pass  the  act 
of  1870  to  secure  coin  at  its  then  standard  value  and  prevent  its  alloy 
or  depreciation  by  the  act  of  the  Government.  And  by  an  amend¬ 
ment  in  1871  they  required  the  quarterly  payment  of  the  interest, 
making  at  this  time  a  difference  in  their  favor  of  $5,000,000  per  an¬ 
num,  the  difference  between  the  semi-annual  and  quarterly  interest. 
In  addition  to  that  we  passed  the  act  of  1873  for  their  accommoda¬ 
tion,  demonetizing  silver  and  giving  a  contraction  to  the  currency 
and  an  addition  to  the  purchasing  power  of  their  capital  which  is 
now  distressing  the  country. 

Congress  passed  the  resumption  act  of  1875  to  contract  the  currency 
and  at  the  same  time  to  avoid  a  stipulation  in  the  act  of  1869,  which 
provided  for  the  payment  of  the  bonds  in  “  coin  or  its  equivalent  .” 
That  term  “  equivalent  ”  meant  that  whenever  the  legal-tender  notes 
should  be  equal  with  coin,  gold  or  silver,  then  the  5.20  bonds  should 
be  payable  in  such  notes.  And  these  bonds  are  now  payable  in  legal- 
tender  notes,  because  they  are  now  “ equivalent ”  to  silver  coin — even 
admitting,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument  only,  that  they  were  not 
originally  payable  in  legal-tenders.  This  explains  the  reason  of  the 
merciless  war  which  is  waged  against  the  legal-tender  notes.  With 
a  heart  as  hard  as  the  adamant  of  the  desert,  the  foreign  bond¬ 
holder  would  rather  see  every  industry  of  our  country  strangled 
in  the  tightening  folds  of  contraction  and  the  whole  land  blasted 
with  mildew  than  have  his  bonds  paid  in  legal-tender  notes.  The 
bondholders  are  moving  heaven  and  earth  to  get  to  gold  resumption. 
Conscious  of  their  power  they  have  become  insolent,  intolerant,  and 
abusive.  They  denounce  all  as  financial  dunderheads  who  dare  to 
thwart  their  policy  and  defend  the  people  against  their  boundless 
rapacity. 

Mr.  Speaker,  there  is  no  enlightened  financier  that  will  contend 
that  a  forced  resumption  of  specie  payments  can  be  of  any  practical 
advantage  to  the  country.  It  will  bring  desolation  and  ruin  in  its 
wake.  It  will  bring  every  industry  of  this  country  to  its  crutches. 
It  is  already  making  our  great  commercial  cities  financial  grave¬ 
yards.  It  is  emptying  our  shops  and  mills  and  blasting  our  fields. 
Millions  of  laborers  are  this  day  rolling  in  shoals  from  one  side  of  the 
country  to  the  other,  praying  for  wages  and  for  bread.  And  after 
vainly  trying  every  avenue  of  escape  from  misery  and  wretchedness, 
they  wail  out  their  despair  in  the  language  of  Milton’s  fallen  angel: 

■Which  way  I  fly  ia  hell ! 

Resumption,  so  called,  is  tearing  the  very  heart  of  this  nation  to 
pieces  and  throwing  it  to  the  vultures.  When  the  bondholders  are 
made  to  tremble  on  their  throne  of  gold  and  bonds  by  the  earthquake 
of  popular  discontent,  they  have  no  language  of  relief  except  “Give 
them  the  bayonet!”  They  would  re-enact  the  appalling  tragedy  of 
English  resumption  from  1819  to  1823,  when  one  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  landholders  were  reduced  to  thirty  thousand,  the  description 
of  whose  horrors  baffled  the  eloquence  of  the  British  Parliament  and 
defied  the  graphic  pen  of  England’s  most  eloquent  historians. 

But  there  is  another  startling  fact  which  lies  in  the  path  of  resump- 


19 


tion.  When  we  reach  resumption  we  will  reach  another  conclusion  : 
the  national  debt  will  never  he  paid  ;  not  because  it  will  he  repudiated, 
hut  because  the  nation  cannot  pay  it.  It  will  he  an  inheritable  burden, 
under  which  posterity  will  groan  and  swelter  for  ages.  Such  is  the 
fate  of  England. 

A  recent  able  English  financial  writer  uses  the  following  language: 

To  us  (says  the  author  of  The  Bank  Charter  Act  and  the  Rate  of  Interest,  Lon¬ 
don:  Simpkin,  Marshall  &  Co.,  1873)  it  is  indeed  a  melancholy  reflection  and  one  v 
withal  worthy  of  grave  pondering,  that  when  the  United  States  shall  return  again  to 
a  convertible  currency  the  liquidation  of  this  national  debt  must  cease.  Our  own 
sinking  fund,  devised  for  a  similar  object,  we  know  ceased  to  receive  any  important 
payments  after  the  abrogation  of  the  bank-restriction  act.  No  currency,  doubtless,  but 
one  that  was  able  to  sustain  a  great  war  need  be  expected  to  liquidate  its  cost. 

Then,  sir,  when  we  reach  resumption  this  country  must  pass  un¬ 
der  the  yoke  and  be  perpetually  enslaved  to  the  money  oligarchy. 
For  them  our  commerce  will  climb  the  liquid  mountains  of  every 
sea  to  gather  gold  from  every  coast,  to  bring  it  back  and  empty  it 
into  the  lap  of  the  bondholder.  Then  will  our  Government  reach  for 
the  “  Midas  fingers”  of  taxation  to  rob  the  nests  of  the  people’s  earn¬ 
ings  to  fill  the  coffers  of  the  bondholder ;  then,  sir,  will  the  shops  and 
mills  ply  the  spindle  and  the  loom  for  the  benefit  of  the  bondholder ; 
then  will  the  farmer,  converted  into  the  vassal  tenant,  pursue  his  rug¬ 
ged  toil  and  the  fields  yield  their  golden  harvests  for  the  benefit  of  the 
bondholder ;  then  will  the  miners  delve  like  slaves  to  tear  the  golden 
bowels  from  the  earth  to  enrich  the  nation’s  lords;  then  will  our 
Mint,  prostituted  from  the  common  good,  coin  gold,  free  of  charge, 
“the  money  of  the  rich;”  and  lastly,  for  them  our  armies  will  move 
to  overawe  and  quell  the  outbreaks  of  plundered  and  starving  labor. 

Let  the  nation’s  creditors  beware  and  moderate  their  extortions. 
They  have  already  heard  one  roar  of  maddened  labor  sound  like  a 
trumpet-blast  of  prophecy.  Endurance  has  its  extremity.  Let  them 
remember  that  the  snowflake  is  the  nucleus  around  which  congeals 
the  avalanche  of  the  Alps,  which  a  sunbeam  may  loosen  and  send  it 
plunging  like  mad  thunder  on  the  plains.  Let  them  remember  that 
their  accumulating  wrongs  may  rise  mountain-high  and  stand  out 
like  Ebal,  the  Jewish  mount  of  cursing,  on  which  some  avenging 
prophet  may  stand  and  loosen  the  nation’s  curses  on  the  authors  of 
the  people’s  wrongs. 

But  let  us  hope  in  the  triumph  of  equity  and  justice.  Let  us  inau¬ 
gurate  an  era  of  relief  and  reform  by  remonetizing  the  old  silver  dol¬ 
lar  of  our  fathers ;  repeal  the  resumption  act  and  loosen  up  the  coagu¬ 
lated  currency  in  the  money  centers,  and  send  it  like  vital  blood  into 
all  the  arteries  and  veins  of  commerce.  Then  will  the  land  again  smile 
with  contentment  and  plenty,  and  the  oceans  blossom  with  our  sails. 


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